Felicia Pratto (born 1961) is a social psychologist known for her work on

intergroup relations Intergroup relations refers to interactions between individuals in different social groups, and to interactions taking place between the groups themselves collectively. It has long been a subject of research in social psychology, political psycholog ...

, dynamics of power, and social cognition. She is Professor of Psychological Sciences at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

. Pratto is a Fellow of the

Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...

. Pratto is co-author, with

Jim Sidanius James H. Sidanius, known as Jim Sidanius (born James Brown on December 11, 1945 - June 29, 2021) was an American psychologist and academic. He served as John Lindsley Professor of Psychology in memory of William James and of African and African A ...

, of ''Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression.'' This book describes how societies are structured through group-based social hierarchies, and how societal structures lead to intergroup conflict, racism, classism, and patriarchy.

Biography

Pratto grew up in Boulder, CO. She received her BA at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

in 1983, where she conducted research with Susan Fiske on people's conceptions about nuclear war. She continued her education at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

where she received her Master of Arts degree in 1987 and her Ph.D in Psychology in 1988. Pratto was an Associate Professor of Psychology at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

from 1990-1997 prior to joining the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Connecticut.

Research

Pratto has studied the processes and consequences of inequality, encompassing race and sex discrimination in hiring and workplace environments, prejudice against the

LGBTQ community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and social ...

and

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

, violations of

International Humanitarian Law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by prot ...

in war-time, terrorism and counter-terrorism, and the Arab uprisings. Pratto and her colleagues received the

Morton Deutsch Morton Deutsch (February 4, 1920 – March 13, 2017) was an American social psychologist and researcher in conflict resolution. Deutsch was one of the founding fathers of the field of conflict resolution. A ''Review of General Psychology'' survey, ...

Conflict Resolution Award in 2008 for their co-authored paper "Power Dynamics in an Experimental Game" published in ''Social Justice Research''. Their study examined relational and structural aspects of power dynamics and the emergence of inequalities as pairs of students played an interactive game. Pratto was part of the research team awarded the Gordon Allport prize in 2011 for their co-authored paper "Diversity policy, social dominance, and intergroup relations: Predicting prejudice in changing social and political contexts" published in ''Social Justice Research.'' This multinational study examined anti-Muslim prejudice across countries varying in social norms related to multiculturalism and assimilation. In another multinational study, Pratto and her colleagues were awarded the

Otto Klineberg Otto Klineberg (2 November 1899, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada – 6 March 1992, in Bethesda, Maryland) was a Canadian born psychologist. He held professorships in social psychology at Columbia University and the University of Paris. His pioneering ...

Intercultural and Intergroup Relations Award in 2015 for their coauthored paper “International support for the Arab uprisings: Understanding sympathetic collective action using theories of social dominance and social identity." This study used

social identity theory Social identity is the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevance, relevant social group. As originally formulated by social psychologists Henri Tajfel and John C. Turner, John Turner in the 1970s ...

and social dominance theory to account for sympathetic collective actions observed throughout the world in response to the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...

. Pratto uses a variety of research methods, from international surveys and

comparative studies Cross-cultural studies, sometimes called holocultural studies or comparative studies, is a specialization in anthropology and sister sciences such as sociology, psychology, economics, political science that uses field data from many societies thr ...

to interactive games in the laboratory and field experiments. In collaboration with

Oliver John Oliver Peter Martin John (born February 9, 1959) is a German personality psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is ...

, Pratto examined cognitive processes that direct attention towards negative stimuli that have the potential to adversely impact one's well-being. Her research with Peter Hegarty focused on social constructionism and group differences, with relevance to feminist psychology and lesbian and gay psychology.

Representative publications

* * * * * * *Pratto, F., Lee, I-C., Tan, J. Y., & Pitpitan, E. Y. (2011)
Power basis theory: A psychoecological approach to power
In D. Dunning (Ed.), ''Frontiers of social psychology. Social motivation'' (pp. 191-222). New York, NY, US: Psychology Press.

References

External links

Faculty HomepageIntergroup Relations Lab
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pratto, Felicia American women psychologists University of Connecticut faculty Carnegie Mellon University alumni New York University alumni Living people 1961 births American political psychologists American women political scientists American political scientists Date of birth missing (living people)